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At Digital Banking 2017, financial industry professionals gathered to exchange experiences and ideas revolving around how to connect with customers in a fast-changing industry.

In recent years, traditional banks have worked to earn back consumer confidence in the wake of the financial crisis, while fintech firms have stepped in to disrupt the environment with advanced digital tools and capabilities. What both sets of stakeholders can agree on now is that consumers are always in search of time-saving tools that need to be intuitive and safe.

With fintech companies setting the bar and often serving as partners, banks are working to deliver digital tools with the speed, simplicity and security consumers have come to expect.

Some compelling features are coming from big banks like Citi, which created CitiFintech to focus on game-changing applications. The global bank is one of the few to bridge banking, money movement and wealth management in one app. Designed for its top-tier clientele, the app engaged 2,500 customers in five months with 32 core features and 60 sub-features. The approval time to open a brokerage account was slashed 75 percent, and applicants now have 55 percent fewer fields to complete when opening an account.

As the financial services industry evolves, traditional branch-based banks and newer direct banks powered by fintech firms will be pressured to keep their digital tools fresh and relevant to consumers. In addition to providing simple, quick and secure access to finances, banks are exploring how to add value to digital interactions and carve out their niche as integral fiscal partners.

Some banks are seeking to join the “connected home” trend, leveraging the use of home assistants like Amazon’s Echo and other Alexa devices or Google Home to execute transactions like transferring cash to a child’s lunch account or paying a bill with voice commands.

Bank of America introduced its foray into artificial intelligence last year with Erica, a bot that accesses information sources across the bank to answer questions via voice or text. It is also intended to help customers make better financial decisions and adopt healthy money habits by providing alerts, such as changes to a FICO score, and money-saving tips. The bot is available through Bank of America’s mobile app, used by 22.6 million. Essentially, the bank is working toward creating an ecosystem in which banking is streamlined.

American Banker’s Digital Banking 2017 conference brought together hundreds of fintech companies and banks of all sizes to discuss the impact of technological advances on the financial industry and highlight how traditional banks are paving a path forward in this digitally driven environment.

As consumers have grown more tech savvy and connected via their smartphones, they’re expecting more robust tools at their fingertips from any organization with which they interact, including their banks. But as traditional banks have been relatively slow to hop on the bandwagon – thanks, in part, to their need to funnel resources to regulatory and compliance requirements – consumer satisfaction has been slow to increase.

Traditional branch-based banks continue grappling with issues of trust from a financial crisis that can’t seem to be put firmly in the rear-view mirror. At the same time, fintech firms have been increasingly disrupting the industry and are building loyalty in the process. They are finding ways to engage customers by not only delivering the financial services they want, but providing ease of access at all the right touchpoints. Additionally, a perception that fintech is on the cutting edge of innovation is helping the sector draw and retain digital talent.